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About CDC.gov

The CDC Family of Surveys is a national serologic surveillance system set up to characterize the extent of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States. The now Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and participating State and local health departments began the system in 1987. HIV seroprevalence data are collected by unlinked (anonymous) surveys of particular components of the population that include childbearing women; clients of sexually transmitted disease clinics; injecting drug users; tuberculosis patients; and several special populations, such as adolescents, prisoners, and homeless persons. The data obtained have been used extensively on both national and local levels to assist HIV-prevention programs. Data from the surveys have been used to identify specific demographic groups at risk for HIV infection so that health education programs may be planned and made available to them in clinical settings. Local serosurvey results have been used in planning and implementing prevention programs and in planning health services for HIV-positive persons. The completeness, or coverage, of HIV counseling and testing programs has been evaluated by comparing seroprevalences among clients tested voluntarily with those tested in the unlinked survey. Survey data are used in formulating recommendations and standards of care for health practitioners, in allocating resources, and in carrying out long-range planning for HIV prevention and treatment services for at-risk groups. Such data are essential to the decision-making process in forming public health policy and recommending practices involving the HIV epidemic.

Rehospitalization of mentally ill persons has been associated mainly with two major factors, noncompliance with the prescribed course of medication and noncompliance with planned aftercare. The authors developed and pilot tested a community health pr...

The outcomes of counseling and testing programs related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and risk of infection among injection drug users (IDUs) are not well known or understood. A counseling and testing outcome of potential public hea...

In 1987 and 1990 in Massachusetts, surveys were conducted to determine the size, pattern of distribution, and trends in the population of children assisted by medical technology. The authors obtained an unduplicated count of all Massachusetts childre...

Graduates of MEDEX Northwest, the physician assistant training program at the University of Washington, were surveyed to describe differences between physician assistants practicing in rural settings and those practicing in urban settings. Difference...

The question of identifying and treating childhood illness confronts all new parents. Misconceptions often lead parents to manage illnesses in their young children inappropriately through overly aggressive treatment or insufficient attention. This re...

Teenagers are a crucial target group for interventions concerning acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Experimenting with their burgeoning sexuality and increased ability to obtain drugs, they are prime ca...

Increasingly, public health interventions are dependent on effective health communications. There are, however, few data examining the relationship and interactions between local public health officers and representatives of the media in the literatu...

Statewide surveillance in California determined that the highest drowning rate from 1980 through 1989 was for the rural, desert county of Imperial (21.9 drownings per 100,000 population). To identify activities associated with drowning in this county...

Frank mental disorders, such as depression and panic disorder, are prevalent in primary care; they cause people substantial suffering and interfere with daily functioning. Even subthreshold or "subsyndromal" conditions, with fewer symptoms than neces...

Bicycle helmet use in the United States has remained low despite clear demonstration of its beneficial effect on reducing the incidence of serious head injury. Several interventions have been reported, with variable results and costs. Much of the rec...

The American public saved more than $39 billion (1990 dollars) in dental expenditures from 1979 through 1989 in contrast to the substantial increases in expenditures in other sectors of the U.S. health care system that have pushed the system to the b...

Knowing the reasons some physicians do not adhere to the disease prevention and treatment recommendations of expert committees can assist in the development of future recommendations more likely to be adopted by physicians. The authors describe the a...

Violence is devastating the lives of children in America's major cities. The problem of violence is particularly acute among disadvantaged young urban males. This program focuses on violence prevention in school-age boys using creative educational te...

This study investigated the self-reported awareness of the presence of product warning messages and signs among random samples of Hispanics in San Francisco surveyed in 1990 and in 1991. The messages that were tested related to cigarettes, alcoholic ...

Demographic, clinical, and treatment episode characteristics of 3,087 American Indian veterans discharged from Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in fiscal year 1991 were examined. Substance use disorders were diagnosed in 46.3 percent of disch...

The measure of the effectiveness of health promotion and disease prevention activities is the impact of prevention policies, programs, and practices on public health and clinical medicine. Assessing prevention effectiveness involves continuing quanti...

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (U.S.)

Published Date:

1/29/09

Description:

Genomics is the study of all the genes in a person, as well as the interactions of those genes with each other and a person’s environment. All people are 99.9% identical in genetic makeup, but differences in the remaining 0.1% hold important clues ...

"Public health genomics is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the effective and responsible translation of genome-based knowledge and technologies to improve population health. Public health genomics uses populationbased data on genetic variati...